Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson says encouraging changes to the Sex Discrimination Act to remove protections for people who are transgender will be a priority for the opposition.
Appearing on the Sky News program Outsiders on Sunday Senator Henderson said comments recently made by Treasurer Jim Chalmers regarding the Liberal party’s new policy that abandons net zero targets on emissions. Speaking to the media Chalmers said “Over recent years, this coalition has become a party of extremists. And Australians would pay a very hefty price for that extremism.”
Senator Henderson said if the government was really concerned about extremism it would look at the Sex Discrimination Act.
“I say to the the Treasurer, that is a disgraceful comment, it goes to show that they have gone to the bottom of the barrel, and if they want to talk about extremism – maybe they could look at the Sex Discrimination Act, and look at how women have been expunged from the Sex Discrimination Act, which was established to protect women. The world has gone crazy.”
Senator Henderson praised Greens co-founder Drew Hutton, who was become a proponent of removing transgender recognition within the act, and Sal Grover, founder of the App Giggle for Girls, who is currently challenging a Federal Court finding that she discriminated against transgender woman Roxanne Tickle. Senator Henderson said they were both “wonderful” people.
Senator Henderson said Hutton was fighting against transgender extremism, “not on people who wanted to live a quiet and dignified life, but on this extreme trans ideology which has removed women from the sex discrimination act.”
“We are no longer protected, women no longer have safe spaces, we are not protected from completely fairly in sport, so where is the government on these issues, and that I think has got to be one of the next very big fights that we have.” Senator Henderson said.
“I think this is a big battle ground.” Senator Henderson said describing the debate as getting traction. ‘We need to be very very strong in reversing in what has happened in the Federal Court and really showing that we are standing up for women and girls, protecting their rights to have their own space and play sport against each other.”
